Extraordinary to think we’re on the third season of this very entertaining Dutch thriller, ‘The Blood Pact', featuring the hapless Hugo, the mild-mannered taxman whose life seems to be dogged with misfortune and bad decision making.
If you want to avoid spoilers, stop reading this article now.
Hugo Warmonds is a widower with two daughters. He had been a high-respected tax-advisor, but since the repercussions of the events of the previous seasons, he’s now very much fallen from grace and having to start again from scratch. But because of his previous criminal associations, many of the clients for his new venture are somewhat less than 100% law-abiding. Nevertheless, he’s still the same Hugo – essentially a good family man at heart who through a combination of naivety and – frankly – stupidity, has found himself in difficult situations.
We join Hugo at a choir rehearsal, where a woman from FIOD – the Dutch fiscal information and investigation service – makes contact with him. Hugo finds himself recruited to act as an informant on one of his most dangerous of clients in exchange for clearing his name. But has he bitten off more than he can chew?
His previous relationship with Marius and Kitty – a pair of scallywags from the same town – came about when his youngest daughter befriended Marius and Kitty’s daughter; but it looks like their paths will cross again soon. When Marius gets a job as security guard and driver for a small firm, he soon falls victim to a robbery. He’s knocked unconscious and the contents of the van stolen from a car park. Or were they? Did Marius stage the robbery and stash the goods – extremely valuable goods – for himself?
And Kitty isn’t averse to flirting with illegal activity too, as we see her repackaging fake cosmetics from the Far East into legitimate boxes and selling them on for a healthy profit. There are some lightweight and humorous touches; like when Kitty, alarmed by her husband’s apparent assault, decides to take up self-defence classes. On her first day, she inadvertently punches a fellow-student in the throat, causing the poor woman to require hospital treatment. Kitty later visits her, taking a bottle of her fake scent as a gift.
This show (Klem in its native Holland) is great fun. It’s nothing new or original, and at times it can appear almost soap-like in its characterisations and script, but it’s a proper “unengage brain and relax” antidote to a lot of the stress we’ve all suffered in recent months. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
The three main leads – Barry Atsma, Jacob Derwig and Georgina Verbaan – are all excellent and well-respected actors; their performances are what carries the show. The plotlines are uncomplicated and compelling, and it’s simply an entertaining and engaging show to watch.
Walter Presents: ‘The Blood Pact' is available as a boxset on All 4 via Walter Presents now.
